What is the true Divide Line between the North and the South? (houses, architecture)
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What is the best possible Divide Line between the North and the South?
I disagree that the Mason-Dixie Line and the Ohio River is a good indication of the boundary between the North and the South. The U.S. Government only used it to plan out the statehood while trying to admit both free and slave states equally.
My Reasons:
Maryland and Delaware are just below the Mason-Dixie Line making them part of the South while they are absolutely not southern culturally with the exception of rural areas.
There are southern parts of several northern states, such as Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio that feel more southern culturally.
In my own definition, the best Divide Line between the North and the South is U.S. Route 50.
U.S. Route 50 runs several miles south along I-70. Therefore, it runs south of most cities, such as Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, south around Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Missouri cities of St. Louis and Kansas City (cities that are not southern at all or in a transitional zone like Cincinnati).
What do you think of mine? If you beg to differ, what is your Divide Line?
The purpose of this is to be a fun thread for all of us geography buffs.
In Missouri, the dividing line is US 60, not US 50.
There are a lot of communities, particularly in the SE part of the state, that are solidly Midwestern that fall below US 50.
Missouri, below Springfield, is still in the South. Most of Kentucky, and southern Virginia are in the South, as well as eastern Oklahoma and most of Texas, rounding out the western border of the South. The Florida panhandle is in the South. Maryland, Deleware, Ohio, Illinois, ect., are not in the South. I can't believe anyone would even suggest Deleware. Does Joe Biden strike you as a Southerner?
Although I still stand by U.S. Route 50 more than U.S. 60, I still agree with you because Cape Girardeau feels more southern despite many people claiming it to be Midwestern.
Even a smaller town of St. Genevieve is more Midwestern than CG.
There is NOTHING about Sainte Genevieve that is southern.
Trust me on that one.
The dividing line between Midwest and South is quite sudden in that particular part of MO.
I can't believe anyone would even suggest Deleware. Does Joe Biden strike you as a Southerner?
Delaware still has a culturally southern section, which comprises less than half the population, but the vast majority of the land area (2 1/2 out of 3 counties). It's everything south of the canal, and is known as "lower and slower" Delaware. Culturally identical to Eastern Shore of Maryland, which is also still pretty southern in its own way.
The line gets harder as you get west, however. Appalachia is one big continuum. I've met people from Fayette County, Pennsylvania who have southern-sounding accents, at least to my own New England trained ears. Certainly a large portion of southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois is thought of as culturally southern.
Really though, the issue is there's a third U.S. culture and dialect - the Midland - which often gets short shrift. People in the upper interior South and Lower Midwest are generally in this group. It's all the area, essentially, along the Ohio River watershed, which was originally settled from Virginia.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton
Delaware still has a culturally southern section, which comprises less than half the population, but the vast majority of the land area (2 1/2 out of 3 counties). It's everything south of the canal, and is known as "lower and slower" Delaware. Culturally identical to Eastern Shore of Maryland, which is also still pretty southern in its own way.
The line gets harder as you get west, however. Appalachia is one big continuum. I've met people from Fayette County, Pennsylvania who have southern-sounding accents, at least to my own New England trained ears. Certainly a large portion of southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois is thought of as culturally southern.
Really though, the issue is there's a third U.S. culture and dialect - the Midland - which often gets short shrift. People in the upper interior South and Lower Midwest are generally in this group. It's all the area, essentially, along the Ohio River watershed, which was originally settled from Virginia.
The upper interior south and lower midwest are not the same regions. I don't choose any of these options. My vote is U.S. 50 from its beginning to Parkersburg, then the Ohio River to where it flows into the Mississippi, and roughly U.S. 60 all the way west to the Texas-New Mexico border from there.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
2,709 posts, read 5,093,568 times
Reputation: 1028
Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton
Delaware still has a culturally southern section, which comprises less than half the population, but the vast majority of the land area (2 1/2 out of 3 counties). It's everything south of the canal, and is known as "lower and slower" Delaware. Culturally identical to Eastern Shore of Maryland, which is also still pretty southern in its own way.
The line gets harder as you get west, however. Appalachia is one big continuum. I've met people from Fayette County, Pennsylvania who have southern-sounding accents, at least to my own New England trained ears. Certainly a large portion of southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois is thought of as culturally southern.
Really though, the issue is there's a third U.S. culture and dialect - the Midland - which often gets short shrift. People in the upper interior South and Lower Midwest are generally in this group. It's all the area, essentially, along the Ohio River watershed, which was originally settled from Virginia.
Southern-sounding accents and southern accents are different..i've never heard these accents in Pennsylvania. South Midland dialect is not Southern...it's considered exclusive to the Midwest and parts of the southern section of the Mid-Atlantic (not including Virginia...Virginia is more Southeast/South Atlantic).
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